“To assure its survival, the church quickly transformed itself from a religious movement founded around a charismatic leader into a bureaucratic institution. To begin with, they had to contend with hundreds of spiritual splinter groups—chief among them the Gnostic movement—that had continued to challenge the basic tenets of the church chief. Among these challenges is the fact that Jesus accepted women as equals, allowed them as disciples and spiritual leaders, and said that God was both male and female.”

“This is fact?”

Braun nodded.

“Dear God,” the American said softly.

“Yes,” Braun said kindly. “Now you have a wider glimpse at what we wrestle with in secret.” He paused. Then, “So where were we? Constantine. Well, Constantine recognized the advantages of ruling with the blessings of a spiritual leader,” Braun continued, “and Sylvester certainly knew how hard it would be to rule as an oudaw from civil authority. So when they heard of this young girl in a distant village who performed miracles and preached to her elders, they knew they had to act quickly to avert yet another challenge to their authority.

“Emissaries representing both Constantine and Sylvester journeyed to visit this remarkable girl,” said Braun. “When they got there, they found the situation even more serious than they had initially heard. Sophia, even though only fifteen by this time, had become the focus of a splinter religion that had captivated her native village and had started to spread to the countryside.” Braun pushed his chair back and continued.

“The church was being torn apart by these spiritual splinter groups whose beliefs were based on interpretations of scripture. They shuddered to think of the power and attraction of a group organized around someone with the power and charisma that Sophia exercised. The parallels that could be drawn between her and Jesus Christ were not lost on them.”

Braun reseated himself. “Besides,” he said, resting his elbows on the table, “she was female. None of the Apostles recognized by the orthodoxy were women. Women—”

“Pardon me, Your Eminence—”

“Neils.”

The American hesitated. “Neils.”

“Yes?”

“You sounded like a lawyer when you talked about no women aposties as recognized by the orthodoxy. Does this mean there were women in this position, just not recognized?”

“Most certainly,” Braun said. “Chief amongst them was Mary Magdalene. She and Peter got into some pretty hot arguments.”

“And you know this because of the Gnostic Gospels?”

Braun nodded. “Those and other holy scriptures.”

“And they are just as valid as the books that were included?”

“Just as valid, but terribly inconvenient to Constantine and the man who defined the institution we have today. Peter, you see, won his power struggle with Mary Magdalene, which is why women are relegated as adjuncts, secondary worshipers in every church. Christianity had borrowed from Judaism and institutionalized the doctrine of male dominance in its new religion, rationalizing the authority to do so on spiritual grounds. ‘Our Father who art in heaven.’ To them, God was clearly a man, as was his son. To admit now that the church had been wrong on this would open the Pope to criticism on other matters.”